New Delhi, April 30: Babubhai Katara had sneaked people out on forged passports at least thrice before a chance check exposed his game.

“We are now trying to establish the persons who accompanied Katara on these three occasions. It could well be three more cases of human trafficking,” said a senior official.

Investigations have revealed that three immigration officials at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport connived with the suspended BJP MP, the prime accused in the trafficking case, to smuggle people out of the country.

The Bureau of Immigration has repatriated them to their parent cadre. Sources refused to name them but said they were junior officials — one from Delhi police and the others from the Intelligence Bureau.

Wiser after the lapse, the home ministry is now thinking of posting middle-rung officials at important immigration counters.

If the revamp does take place, thank a passenger.

Katara might have ambled past the immigration counter again on April 18 if a traveller hadn’t misplaced her papers. It set off a search and Air-India officials, who were che-cking passports of every passenger, found that the photographs on the passports carried by the woman and the boy accompanying the MP didn’t match them.

A Delhi court today sent Katara to judicial custody till May 4 even as police said 35 passports had been seized following information revealed by the BJP leader.